How they all found out
by Hatchspeut
Summary: Mystic Force. Ever wondered at what moment in the series the Rangers realized Nick had a thing for Madison?
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: All rights to the rightful owners. I own nothing but the brain I used to write this piece (and sometimes I wonder if I'm owning even that much!)

 **CHAPTER 1**

Episode: Broken Spell - Part 2

Point of view: Nick

It took me nearly an hour and a half to get back to the record store (and my bike!) from where I had parted ways from Clare. During the walk back, I had done a lot of thinking. I still had a hard time believing that a magical world existed along side our own without anyone ever noticing it. It was unbelievable, not to mention insane! It couldn't be so... could it?

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts, as I finally reach my bike but one question stubbornly lingers on in my mind. What would my powers have been? Hopefully something cool and useful. My bike sure could do with some magic. I sigh and start working with it. I guess I'll never know now what my powers would have been. The witch - err... sorceress - Udonna said I was an unbeliever. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that's not a good thing. Pity, for the others seemed to be really nice...

"Hey there."

I snap my head up at the sound of the soft voice addressing me. For a brief moment, all I can do is blink and stare at the young woman coming towards me. It's Madison, the shy one of the two sisters. Her hands are buried deep in the pockets of her trousers.

"Hey!" is all I can bring myself to say. My brain is like creme brulee. I'm baffled over her presence. Why has she come out to seek me? After what happened in the forest, I thought they'd want nothing to do with me. I'm glad though that she is here, glad but confused. I want to say something more to her, but she beats me to it.

"We sure could have used your help back there," she says and crosses one leg over the other as she comes to a halt a good few feet away from me. I try not to take of offense, after all she is the shy sister and I know my look doesn't really encourage good girls to get close to me. With the bike in between us, she is right to have her doubts.

"Tss... I don't think there is anything I could've done," I reply, not entirely sure if she really meant the words or not.

I shake my head and tug on the strapping holding my unfolded, messed-up ball of clothes behind the seat to make sure they are tightly secured. Wouldn't want to lose my pride and my dignity all in one day!

"So," Madison speaks again, hesitating a little when I come around to her side of the bike. "While we're out in the world, fighting evil. What are you going to do?"

Now that's was a very good question. I had no idea what I was going to do now. For the last couple of weeks, Briarwood had been my final destination on a very long journey. Coming here was supposed to be the end. I had never once given it a thought what I was going to do once I got here, or if I didn't like what Briarwood had to offer. Now I'm totally clueless.

To gain time before I have to answer her, I straddle my bike. Madison watches me intensively with her big dark eyes. Her gaze follows my every move. Usually a question like that would have ticked me off, I don't like people snooping around in my business, but with her... It haunts me that I can't give her a proper reply.

"First," the sentence takes form in my head while I speak, "I'm gonna fix my bike. Then I'll head to my grandparents and see if I can live there instead of my sister in Briarwood."

I realize in the very same moment the words come through my mouth that I have said too much. Revealed too much. Madison flinches.

"No parents?" she asks.

I read compassion and pity in the expression on her face but once again, I don't find it as annoying as I usually would have. Instead I hear myself chuckle.

"You are nosy!" I tease her.

She rewards me with the most adorable smile and shy blush. I have to concentrate on the steering handle to calm my fluttering heart.

"Yes, I have parents," I tell her. "They are working overseas for a few years. I was living with my cousins for awhile, then my uncle and now my sister."

I don't know why I am telling her all of this. As soon as the first word leaves my mouth it's like I can't stop the words from coming. And Madison gives me all of her attention. She even stands quiet for a short moment after I am finished, trying to find the right words to say.

"Must be hard leaving your friends all the time..." she concludes.

"Usually, I don't stay long enough to have friends."

The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Once they're out I cannot take them back. I want to slap myself. _What is this girl doing to me?_ I need to be careful with what I say next so she doesn't figure out how tragic my army brat life really is.

"You know you could..." she starts softly but breaks into an adorable stutter as soon as I look at her. "I mean... you could stay longer... you know... uhm... like here... maybe."

For a long time, it seems like an eternity, I don't know what to say. I stare at her. I know it's rude but I can't help it. Did she just ask me to stay?

It has taken her all the courage she can up bring to say those words, I can tell it by the way her heartbeat causes a vein to pound hard against the delicate skin of her throat. She swallows and flickers with her eyes. She shifts weight from one foot to the other and back again, waiting for me to say something. I try my best to find something - anything really - to say but it would seem that my brain has turned into brulee again.

No one has ever asked me to stay before, not even my grand parents nor my uncle (and definitely not my cousins!). Though, no one have ever asked me to leave either, maybe except for every teacher I've ever had, but that doesn't mean that they've wanted me to stay either. This is all new to me and up until now I never new how much I longed for someone to say those words. I see myself throw my arms around her neck, pulling her into the biggest hug I've ever given anyone and thank her from the bottom of my heart.

But of course I don't. Years of practicing in keeping my true feelings hidden to not let anyone know how miserable my life really is prevents me from doing that. Before I know it, my defenses have kicked in.

"I'd love to hang out all day and talk with you, but I still got a lot of work to do with my bike and..."

I bite my tongue before I can finish the sentence. I want to kick myself in the nuts! What a jackass I am! A total prick!

Before me I see my rejection hit Madison with full force. I might as well have kicked her in the stomach or slapped her. Her face falls and she crumbles. The courage she had so bravely worked up shatters into a millions pieces. Her eyes flickers again, of hurt and in search of an escape route.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry," she begins, but the words gets stuck in her throat. "I just... I... I was trying to…" For a horrifying moment I fear that she might burst into tears. I would not know what to do if she did so, I've had very little experience with consoling crying women, let alone those I've hurt myself. Fortunately Madison recovers herself, if only for a short while and very little, to say: "Uhm... I'm gonna leave you to it."

 _Nice work, you asshole!_ My conscious sneers at me as I watch her turn and start to walk back the way she came from. She was trying to be nice and you...

"Hey, look!" I call after her, putting the annoying voice in my head aside. Madison stops in her tracks and reluctantly turns to face my again. The hurt is read all across her face. It's more than I can take. Suddenly I want to tell her everything. How I've been abandoned by the people around me all my life and been forced to leave behind those that haven't. How all of this have made me put up walls thicker than uncle Brian's head around my heart to not risk getting hurt again. But I feel that kind of honesty would be too much too soon. I wouldn't want her to think of me as a freak, but I don't want her to think of me as a cold hearted jackass either.

"I really appreciate what you are trying to do, trying to say, but I guess I'm not cut out for the magic stuff like you guys. But... Good luck."

If Madison understands or accept my apology is hard to tell. I can tell nothing from the big dark eyes of hers. She motions towards my bike and says: "Yeah, you too," before heading back to her friends inside the record store.

I stand motionless by my bike for a time afterwards, trying to figure out what just happened. I am so busy dwelling over my own actions that I almost don't notice what Madison is doing to me. She, the first person ever to have asked me to stay, has made me falling and I'm falling hard. The beautiful Blue Ranger has put a spell on my heart.


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: All rights to the rightful owners. I own nothing but the brain I used to write this piece (and sometimes I wonder if I'm owning even that much!)

Message from the author: Thank you all so much for the great reviews so far! I'm thrilled to hear that chapter 1 was so well recieved by you readers. I hope you'll enjoy this one just as much. Feel free to write a comment below to let me know what you think. Thank you once again!

 **Chapter 2**

Episode: Stranger within, part 2

Point of view: Xander

"What if we find Necrolai before Vida, how do we destroy her?"

Madison finally asks the question we've all been dreading to say out loud. For hours we've been stuck at Rootcore, discussing how we will find Vida after we so foolishly - after I so foolishly - fell for her easy trick. I still can't believe I let her fool me like that. Transforming herself into Clare and letting us think that Clare had been the gullible one... We should've known better. No, correction, I should have known better.

The only comfort I have is that Madison and Chip fell for it too, and they have known Vida longer. Nick is still new in this town so I don't blame him. But Madison, Chip and I should've known better. We have known Vida for ages, for God's sake! She has pulled this trick on us before!

I hear a troubled sigh in the room, but realize it doesn't come from me but from my right. Nick comes to a halt from pacing restlessly back and forth underneath the dais. Tonight he really looks the part as Red Ranger, deeply troubled over one of his rangers missing in action.

"Flytrap was one thing..." Madison continues on my left, but trails off.

Her face is pale and worried. I know she is more worried than any of us. Vida is her sister after all. Family. Chip and I are only close friend, though Chip might be considered as more like a brother than a friend to the girls.

My head snaps up. That's it!

"Chip's book!" I exclaim, drawing the others' attention to me. "It's gotta have a chapter on destroying vampires."

To my relief, Chip nods. A stern look on his usually so cheerful face.

"Chapter thirteen," he says. "Basically it' the old stake-in-heart scenario..." He hesitates and I can feel my heart sink. "Unless we're dealing with the queen of the vampires."

"And what does it say about destroying them?" Nick inquires. He doesn't know Chip as well as Madison and I do, so he can't tell the obvious answer from the serious expression on Chip's face.

"It says you can't."

You never truly get the depth of the the harsh reality until you actually hear someone say it out loud.

"That's encouraging," I mutter bitterly. Then it hits me, it's something Udonna said to us on our first day as rangers. "Wait! The Xenotome!"

The others look at me questioningly.

"It tells us what we need to know, when we need to know," I explain. "And we need to know it now."

We rush up the stair to the dais. Chip is the first to reach the Xenotome.

"Xenotome, how do we destroy the queen of the vampires?"

The old book starts to glow. The air in the room suddenly vibrates from the magic radiating from it. I can feel goose bumps rise on my arms. The magic in Xenotome is something else than the magic Chip, Madison, Nick, Vida and I are using. It's even different from Udonna's magic. This magic is as old as time. And powerful. Very powerful.

Black ink seeps up from within the old parchment of the fragile pages. Words, written in the old magical language, reveal themselves to us. I can't read them though. I didn't pay that much attention to Udonna's teaching that day, I had a hot date the night before. Can't recall her name though, or her looks, or anything about her really more than the fact that she was hot...

I force the thought out of my head and look at the page again. I can tell it's a recipe of some sort. Hopefully one of the others can read it.

"Dawn crystal," Chip reads. "It must be the only way to defeat Necrolai. It says how make one, but it takes time and ingredients I don't know if I can get."

Before any of us has a chance to answer, a white shadow emerges from one of the adjacent rooms.

"You can't," Udonna says as she hurries up the stair towards us with a basket hanging on her arm, "but I did. We must hurry. There is not much time. We must make the crystal before..."

She quiets, but too late. We've all heard the seriousness in her voice and know what comes next.

"Before what?" Madison's voice almost cracks at the end. "Before it's too late, is that what you were going to say?"

Udonna turns and face us. Her face could've been carved in stone. The green eyes gaze at us one at the time.

"Make no mistake, Rangers. We are in danger of losing one of our own."

The words hit us hard, but Madison the hardest. She winces of fear. Her bottom lip starts to tremble, she's not far from tears. I want to reach out to her, but Nick gets there first.

"It's not gonna happen."

The determination in his voice surprises me and for once I am glad I'm not the Red Ranger. I couldn't have boast such confidence at this moment. Nick's conviction gives me hope, even though I suspect it's all to keep Madison from breaking apart. Her eyes are so watery the tears are threatening to spill at any second when she meets Nick's gaze. There is a silent promise exchanged between them before Nick turns to Udonna. As he does so, the tears spills on Madison's cheeks.

"Udonna, you make the Dawn Crystal. We'll find Vida."

"No," Chip exclaims, "I'm staying to make the Dawn Crystal. I owe Vida that much."

None of us argues with that. We all know the strong bond between Vida and Chip, and if there is someone who can defeat the queen of the vampires, it is Chip. He's been studying the creatures in the comic books since diaper age.

Nick, Madison and I morph before leaving Rootcore on our Aerotanks. The night is dark as we speed through the forest. We keep our gazes glued to ground, in search of a blood sucking Vida on the run. I keep thinking to myself that we cannot be too late. We can't loose her. Not now, not ever.

"Vida!" I yell at the top of my lungs, trying to drown my worries with my shouts.

Beside me Nick tries the same approach, but with more fire as he yells the nickname he has given her: "V!"

"Sis! Where is she?" Madison's cry is less fearsome. Her tears may have dried the second we jumped onto our Aerotanks, but she is still fragile and out of her wits of worry. Anything can cause her to crumble, so Nick and I stay close.

"Hey, V!"

Hours pass by as we speed from place to place searching for Vida. We go to all the places in the forest a fugitive vampire could hide, but Vida is nowhere to be seen. We head for the city instead, thinking a newly bitten vampire could be out in search of blood.

"She has to be somewhere," Madison says while we're circling around the central part of Briarwood. "I'm not giving up."

She says the last part as much to herself as to either of us.

"No one is, Maddy", Nick immediately replies and clenches a gloved fist. "No one!"

"Vida!"

I sit silent on my Aerotank for a moment. Throughout the night, I have come to notice something about my friends in red and blue. At first I thought Nick kept close to Madison for the same reason I did, as a concerned friend; but as the night progresses without us being any closer of finding Vida, I instead find Nick getting all the closer to Madison. They fly so close their knees almost brush against each other. Whenever Madison's hope wavers, Nick says something encouraging to brighten her spirit.

Of course, his attention to her could be the concern of a leader for one of his team members, but something whispers to me that there is more to it than that. I decide to keep them under close watch.

Dawn comes and goes without any sign of Vida. When the clock struck 10 am, we are forced to return to the human world. We cannot be late for our shift at Rock Porium. It's bad enough Vida is missing in action and Chip is held up at Rootore, making the Dawn Crystal. We arrive to the store just in time for our shift to start. We land our Aerotanks in the ally behind the store and enter through the back door so it would appear that we've just been outside throwing garbage or something.

I am not surprised to see Nick follow closely in Madison's tracks. Her distress over not finding Vida is evident.

"Maybe she left town, maybe she was taken," Madison is on the edge of bursting into tears. She leans heavily onto counter for support. "Maybe she..."

Her voice cracks and Nick is immediately at her side. I watch him slid an arm around her shoulders.

"We'll find her, Maddy!" His voice softens as he pull her closer. "I promise."

Their eyes meet and my jaw drops.

 _Holy crap!_

There is something in his voice when he gives her the promise, and in his eyes when he looks at her afterwards, that spills the beans to me. He loves her!

I stare dumbfounded at the pair in front of me. How could I have missed this? How can anyone have missed this? Now that I've seen it, it is so obvious. Nick loves Madison. Fire and water, Yin and yang. How could I not have suspected this right from the start? I knew Madison fancied Nick from the moment she laid eyes on him.

Another question finds its way to my conscious; does Vida know?

Before I get to dismiss that question as not likely, the intimate moment between the Red and the Blue Ranger is interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Find who?"

Our head snaps up at once. It's Vida!

Madison releases herself from Nick's embrace and rush across the room to throw herself around her sister's neck.

"Vida!"

I curse silently to myself. Of all the stupid moments Vida could have shown up at during the night, she decided to show up at the worst one. The one that could have been really special to her sister. I glance at Nick. His face is blank, slightly confused and I'm sure it has nothing to do with Vida showing up. He thought, just like I did, that he would be kissing Madison by now.

"Sis, I'm fine. Calm down. I'm fine," I hear Vida say as she tries to release herself from Madison. "I had quite a night. I'm okay."

Quite a night, the beast inside me growls at her. _Madison could've had quite a morning if you hadn't showed up!_

Then I am reminded of why it's been quite-a-night for her and Vida is all forgiven.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: All rights to the rightful owners. I own nothing but the brain I used to write this piece (and sometimes I wonder if I'm owning even that much!)

Message from the author: Once again thank you all so much for your kind words. It's been a very busy week for me so unfortunately I haven't had the time to go through all of your comments yet. I would like to highlight an issue to all of you who are writing reviews without being logged in here at – it seems like the site does not support the traditional review management used on other sites (or maybe it's me who don't know how to do it). I can only reply to those who are logged in. I'll try to answer as many questions as I can though on my profile page (update coming soon), so keep on asking! But first, let's see how Chip found out…

 **Chapter 3**

Episode: The Hunter

Point of view: Chip

"This guy is going down!" Vida growls behind me through gritted teeth, blocking yet another shot from the latest monster the underworld has thrown at us: Oculus the hunter.

"Keep running," Madison encourages us, as she too blocks a shot from the nasty looking one-eyed thing.

I'm running as fast as I can to get away from our pursuer. It's doesn't say much though since I'm practically dragging Nick with me every step I take. His leg is badly wounded from where Oculus shot him to - and I quote - make things interesting.

 _Well, interesting things have certainly become, I think bitterly to myself. We lost Xander..._

The image of Xander getting hit by Oculus' blast, evaporating into thin air as he hits the ground, keeps playing over and over again in my head. I'm sure it will come back to haunt me in my dreams even when I'm old and my Ranger days are long gone. That is, of course, if I'll ever get to live that long. With Oculus on our tail, and we still haven't faced the Master himself, things are not looking too bright.

I hear Nick grunt as I readjust my grip around him. I can tell he is in deep pain and that it is getting worse by the minute. Stubborn or not, there is only so much pain a person can take and I sense that Nick is approaching his breaking point fast.

"Look out!" I suddenly hear myself cry out. A movement at the corner of my eye has caught my attention and thanks to my instincts my warning comes just in time. I don't know which one of us who blocks the shot, all that matters is that one of us do. The force in it is so strong, though, that it knocks us of our feet and we fall to the ground. In the fall, I lose my grip around Nick and I hear him moan of pain from the hard landing.

"We got to keep moving!"

The desperation in Madison's voice is the encouragement we need to scramble back to feet. In synchronized motion, like we've all had the same thought, we reach for our staffs and call in union:

"FINISHIO!"

Oculus evil laughter haunts us as we evaporates.

Space and time, even dimensions unknown to us, flashes for a brief moment before our eyes until it suddenly stops and we're pushed out of the loop. We land of soft ground. We're surrounded by deep forest. I recognize the place, we've been here before, but my fear for Oculus' gun prevents me from remembering when and why.

Vida helps me to pick Nick up from the ground. He is too weakened by the pain from his wounded leg to get up on his own. I'm not sure how much longer he will cope. With Madison as our only protection we start moving.

"We should make a break for Rootcore," Vida suggests a short while later. By then Nick is leaning so heavily on the both us that we're panting almost as heavily as him. I want to answer her that it sounds like a brilliant plan, but am too tired to do so. Instead Madison answers:

"Keep running!"

The fear in her voice is tangible. Her head is snapping in all direction, trying to catch a glimpse of Oculus before he can shoot another one of us.

 _Xander..._

"I don't want to jeopardize the base," Nick grunts and stumbles over a root. "This guy can follow us anywhere."

His words make sense, I know they do, but they don't really help our situation. I'm so exhausted by the chase and carrying Nick that I can't help what comes out of my mouth next.

"I'm running out of suggestions," I declare. "If this was a roll play game, I would give myself a time out."

None of the others make an attempt to answer this. A moment later we reach an opening among the trees. Tired beyond what we ever thought was possible, we make a stop. Vida is panting as badly as I am. Nick is worse than ever.

"At least we got some covers from the trees," Madison says, cautiously optimistic.

No sooner have the words left her mouth before the explosions starts to rain over us again. Oculus has found us. This time he is not shooting straight at us, I notice. He is aiming for something else.

 _The trees?_ I think to myself, as a shot runs past me into a tree. To my horror, the tree evaporates into thin air before my eyes. Just like Xander did.

"Wow!" I hear Madison gasp and I can't stop myself from making a dry comment.

"You were saying?"

"I guess I spoke too soon."

More trees disappear around us and I realize what Oculus is doing: he is cutting down the trees so we won't have anything to hide behind. For every tree that disappears, more shots are coming our way and not before long we are fighting back to back all four of us.

"No!" I hear Nick yell as he is almost hit, shortly followed by Vida's: "We're in trouble!"

"You can't hide from me!" Oculus laughter echoes through the forest. At least someone is having the time of his life, I think bitterly.

Then, everything happens all at once. From the corner of my eyes I see a ball of light coming towards us and I turn my head just in time to see it hit Vida.

"Sis!" Madison's cry is only drowned by my own. I shout Vida's name from the top of my lungs as I watch in horror how she falls to the ground.

 _And then we were three..._

I watch Madison run to the spot where her sister disappeared, throwing herself on the ground as if she could pull Vida back from... where ever Vida disappeared to. Madison's pain is evident, her shock...

Nick falls out of my grip, suddenly I'm too stiff and too weak to hold him any longer. Nick beats his fists to the ground and growls Vida's name in anger over loosing her. I ignore him. It is like all of my feelings suddenly have shut down and only my practical sense is left. We can't stay here. Even though Oculus has stopped shooting at us (obviously very pleased with himself to have shot another one of us), we cannot stay here much longer. We need to keep moving, otherwise we'll be sitting ducks when Oculus decides our respite is over.

"No!" Madison is now laying on the ground, sobbing. I walk over to her.

"Hey, Maddy, are you okay?"

"No!" Her voice breaks my heart. Nick grunts something behind us, but I ignore him. To get them both back up on their feet takes as much of my strength as I have left, somehow I manage though.

"C'mon," I tell them. "We gotta find cover."

I take them to the place I know best, back to the city. In the narrow streets of old town I hope to find shelter for us, to rest and to regroup. Nick is hurting so badly by now his whole body trembles, he can barely stand. With Madison on the other side of me, limp as a dead fish, I'm in for more than I can handle. I don't know for how much longer I can carry them. All I know is that I need to be strong for both of them.

"Wait, wait!" Nick suddenly yells. "Stop for a second!"

Before I know it, he is out of my grip and down on the ground. He is gritting his teeth in pain inside the helmet, I can't see it but I can sense it.

"Nick," Madison has suddenly come back from the dead, "we can't stop."

Nick looks at us. Defeat is written all over his face.

"I'm gonna surrender."

"What?!" The voice is a shrieking excuse for a yell. At first I think it is Madison screaming, but she hasn't moved a muscle. The shrieking came from me.

"You can't, we're a team," Madison pleads. She sounds like she is about to cry.

Nick meets her gaze.

"It's me they're after", he says. "If I give up, it will save Xander and Vida."

He grunts as another shot of pain runs through his body. Madison stares at him speechless. I do not.

"If it's you they're after then it's you we have to protect." I give Madison a harsh look to let her know that she cannot show Nick any compassion right now, or he'll give up. Right now, it is all about getting Nick off the ground before...

"Gotcha!"

Nick and I see the blast too late to react, but Madison has plenty of time as she is facing that direction. Like in slow motion, I see her pushing herself in between Nick and myself. Stretching out her body in full length in front of Nick to protect him. The shot hits her clean in the chest and she falls...

"MADDY!"

Nick's horrified scream is almost worse than seeing Madison disappear before our eyes. I can tell by the sound of his voice that her getting hit is much more traumatic for him than seeing Xander or Vida getting shot. It only takes me a moment to realize why that is - Nick loves Madison.

If the situation had been another, one less serious where we weren't hunted by a one-eyed monster who tries to evaporate us from the face of the earth, I would have jumped up and down in excitement over this discovery. I've known for a while now that Madison likes Nick - a lot! - but I have never been really sure as to what his feelings are for her. As it is now though, all I can do is to gasp:

"Oh, no!"

 _Now there's only two of us..._

With Madison out of the picture, my chances to get Nick on the move again are even smaller than before, but I have to try anyway. There can be no other way. Nick is the Light. If the Master gets his hands on the Light, we're all doomed. I refuse to let that happened. Xander, Vida and now Madison, they gave their all to protect him and I'll be damned if I don't do the same.

From where I get the strength to pull Nick up on his feet again, I do not know. I drag him with me to the nearest tree and - zap! - we're back in the forest again. This time unmorphed as we no longer have powers enough to stay rangered up. We come to stand with our backs against the tree we came through, eyes on our surroundings. Nick is breathing heavily and I am no better.

"You know he's gonna find us," Nick says. The devastation of loosing Madison is written all over his face. I'm positive he sees the sequence of her getting shot over and over again in his head. It must make him feel terrible to know that she sacrificed herself for him. With no one else around, it falls on my plate to convince him to not give up.

"I've been thinking," I say, still struggling for breath. "He is probably in another dimension which allows him to follow us wherever we go. If we could make..."

"Stop!" Nick interrupts me. Without me realizing it, I've been circling away from the tree. Now I'm standing face to face with Nick.

"I'm gonna give myself up," Nick declares.

"What?"

Nick looks at me, he is leaning so heavily against the tree that he would fall if it moved.

"I'm not gonna lose all my friends if there is something I can do to stop it."

I feel my hope fading quicker than water through my fingers. _He is giving up._ He said 'friends' but I know what he really means is 'Madison', otherwise he would have given up right after Xander was hit. He don't want to lose her. I want to smile at the sweetness of it but don't, knowing it could ruin the effect of what I am about to say. Vida would have teased the living hell out of him if she had heard him... or beaten it out of him!

"But..." I say, trying to keep myself together one last time, "If you surrender, you'll destroy everything we stand for. We're Power Rangers!" _Like that matters to him now!_ "Do you really think that's what Xander, Vida and _Madison_ would want you to do?"

I never get to hear his reply. In the very same second I finish the sentence, Oculus shoots me. I've come away too far from the tree.

The last thing I see before the world turns a wide range of colors, is how the fires are lit in Nick's eyes and I smile to myself. Love really do conquers all!


	4. Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER: All rights to the rightful owner. I own nothing but the brain I used to write this piece (and sometimes I wonder if I'm owning even that much!)

Message from the author: Okay, so chapter 4… Vida, for me, has always been the hardest one to tell the exact moment when she realized that Nick had a soft spot for her sister, because I thinking she was kinda flirting with him herself throughout the show. I'm still not sure whether or not she is truly happy for Madison in the final scene, when Madison returns to the store with the blanket in her hands after saying goodbye to Nick, or if she simply puts on a brave face to hide her hurt from Madison.

 **Chapter 4**

Episode: Mystic Fate - Part 2

Point of view: Vida

We scramble to our feet. Shocked. Scared. Not really sure of what just happened. _The Master destroyed our Zord..!_ I try not to panic as my head tries to figure out the meaning of that very sentence.

"Come on!"

A voice yells behind me. I see Xander gestures towards a cave entrance, some distance away and we make a run for it. My chest hurts and I can barely feel my legs, yet I keep running. Praying to whatever god there is that I won't trip on the treacherous sand underneath my feet. I'm not sure if I could get back up again if I'd fall. I am so tired.

Shepherded by the Master's laughter, we finally reach the cave. Madison is the first to enter, leading the way for the rest of us into the darkness inside. We reach an open space and stop to catch our breaths. Bent forward, with my hands on my knees, I try to take slow deep breaths, but it hurts. Pain rips through me. My lungs aches for much needed oxygen. At every intake pain shots through my body. All I want to do is to collapse onto the ground, never to rise again.

Around me I hear the others struggle to regain a controlled breathing as well.

"Alright, we're safe," Chip says after awhile from somewhere to my right.

"Safe?" The resentful retort comes almost immediately. Nick's face is grim. "Are you kidding me?"

There is something harsh and unfriendly in his voice as he says those words. Like he is the older brother and we are the ignorant younger siblings. I don't like the sound of it and I certainly don't like the dark shadow surrounding him.

"That thing just destroyed our Zord," he continues. "Not to mention Daggeron and my dad."

He is about to say something more, but it never comes over his lips. I straighten, not believing what I hear. It can't end like this. We've come to far, achieved too much. That thing in his voice, I hate it - failure!

"So that's it," I blurt out angrily. "The great Nick - the Red Ranger - is calling it quits?"

I feel the others stare at me in shock. I don't care. The only one I have eyes for is Nick. I can see in his eyes that he knows that I am challenging him and how a part of him wants to erase me from the face of the earth, but he doesn't do it. Instead he does the unthinkable, he starts to walk away.

Xander stop him before he takes a second step though.

"Oh, no... Don't walk away," he says with his thick Australian accent. "Answer her."

The look Nick gives him could even make the dead fear for their lives, but Xander stays put.

"Get out my way," Nick growls.

"No, Nick," Chip cuts in from my right. "You answer that."

He faces us all and I can tell by the dark expression that he's had it. There is nothing but shadows surrounding him. He starts to back away from us. Defeat oozing from every inch of his body.

"Guys, wake up and smell the darkness! We've done our best, we failed..."

He turns to the cave entrance. Somewhere out there is the Master, just waiting for us to come out and meet our dome.

"We're no match for that thing." Nick sighs heavily. His shoulders sinks a whole inch. "Fine, yes, I've given up."

Nothing could have prepared me for hearing him say those words. My heart sinks to somewhere deep below me. It's like everything comes off and there is nothing but a big black emptiness inside me. _So this is it_ , I think for myself. _This is the part where we give up. It was all for nothing._

"Don't you say that!"

The voice pierces the silence. For a split second I almost believe the words come from my mouth, but Xander and Chip turn to look at something behind me. It's... Madison!

"Don't you say that, not you!" She starts walking towards us, eyes locked on Nick. My sweet, innocent, shy sister. As she brush pass me, I see nothing shy in her eyes. Or innocent. Or sweet. Only a forceful determination.

"You have held us together through all of this. You will not give up!"

I never expected... _this_ out of Madison. Lashing out like this... I am amazed. Stunned even. Such fury. It's like... like she's on fire. No, not on fire. She is fire!

Nick is as surprised by her out-lash as any of us, but his dark mood makes him recover quickly. I think he glares at her before making a new attempt to walk away. Madison is not gentle when she tugs at his arm, forcing him to turn back and face her.

"Listen to me!" This time, it's Madison doing the growling. She is as fierce as any hellfire. Her eyes impales Nick to the spot. "Giving up is not an option for you. We are a team you are this team's leader. We go on no matter what!"

Speechless doesn't come anywhere near to what I am feeling at this moment. My sister... I didn't know fire came in the shade of blue.

Before any of us has a chance to say anything, or even move a muscle, lightning strucks all around us and we are thrown down on the ground. Pure energy surges through my body and I think I scream of pain. I hear the Master laugh.

"It is time to finish this meal!"

I am barely aware of the others. I know Madison lies next to me, crunching in pain just as much as I do. Her voice echoes with mine. We're drained on the last bit of magic we had left. Now there is no more, nothing to fight the Master with. We're done for. A moment from now there will be nothing left of us. I pray to myself that the bitter end will relieve me of the pain. It is more than I can bare...

"Not here..." A whisper suddenly breaks through to my ears. Someone scrambles to its feet. I open my eyes and I see Nick rising. "Not now. This is not our end."

A weak smile comes to my lips. _He believes..._ He has come back to protect us.

I open my eyes a little further and that's when I notice he isn't protecting us. Standing slightly to the side at my feet, he is only protecting one of us with his body – _Madison_! I almost ask myself why he is only protecting her before it hits me. _Nick loves Madison!_

I stare dumbfound between them. _How... when?_

A memory suddenly rushes to surface my conscious, a dialogue that took place what feels like ages ago, yet I remember every single word like it was yesterday. Madison had just regained her human form after some time being turned into stone. We were all back at Rock Porium, trying to catch up on the work we'd missed while fighting Necrolai and that… bird-thing!

I was making some sweet music behind the turn-tables, while being recorded by my sister on her camera, when a handsome young fellow approached Madison from behind. What they said to each other, I do not recall and it's of little importance. The dialogue that's surfaced in my mind is the one taking place between Nick and I when Madison left to show the young man around.

" _Looks like Madison is really trying to come out of her shell."_

 _Nick has approached me from the back room, where he has spent the last hour stocking goods. His hands are shoved deeply into the pockets of his jeans. From where I am standing I cannot see the expression on his face as he watches the pair walk away._

 _I remove my headphones just enough so I can hear my cocky reply._

" _Yeah, but if that guy is messing with my sister, he has to deal with me."_

 _Nick picks up a magazine and sits down on the speaker in front of the turn-table._

" _Don't worry," he says with another look at the couple heading towards the front of the store, "she can take care of herself!"_

Up until today, I always thought he meant those words as a compliment towards Madison, but now I realize that they were really a kick in the butt to himself for hurting her. Seeing Madison talk with Ben… Nick had been jealous!

Outside the cave the Master laughs again. The rumbling interrupts my thoughts and forces me to push back the memory for my mind.

"You are only one!" The large creature points out to Nick.

"And unfortunately for you... the _wrong_ one!"

I see Nick take a firm grip around his sword and lion staff, crossing them in front of him.

"I call forth the powers of good magic left in the world!" He lifts the sword and staff over his head. "Off all the good magic still left in my body. Come to me now!"

The ground, the air, my body... everything starts to vibrate as magic rushes to him from all directions, charging him until he is ready to burst. Goosebumps rise on my arms.

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

The words reverberate over and over again in my ears as I watch him transform. Its a powerful sight, like watching a phoenix take flight and the image of it will be stuck in my head for eternity. The Red Ranger stands before us,once again ready to fight evil.

Outside the cave the Master snickers in delight.

"The Light will be most delectable!"

The fight is tough and brutal. The Master launches himself after Nick, time after time. I watch in horror how Nick fights the long poisonous tentacles. Every time I think he'll get caught, Nick manages to wiggle free. He is smooth and swift, fierce and forceful as fire when he decides to make his attack. With his lion staff he hits the Master in the head, knocking down the heavy iron plate that covered it.

"Nooo, my armour!" the Master cries.

Nick doesn't wait for the Master to retrieve it. With the roar of a lion, he takes a plunge, throwing himself forward to bury the sword deep in the Master's heart.

It must have cut some magical vein or something, for suddenly bright light hits us and we feel, rather than see that a portal has opened a way back to our own world.

"Return us now!" Nick demands. Turned to us he adds: "Take my hand!"

We get onto our feet and run toward him. As we take each others hands, all I can think to myself is to make sure to hold at tight grip on Madison. For Nick's sake!


	5. Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: All rights to the rightful owner. I own nothing but the brain I used to write this piece (and sometimes I wonder if I'm owning even that much!)

Message from the author: I think we've all known which scene I was going to choose for Madison's chapter. Here it goes anyway!

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

Episode: Mystic Fate - Part 2

Point of view: Madison

 _The Master is gone._

The thought echoes hollow in my head, again and again. I can scarcely believe it yet I know it to be true. I was there after all. I watched him fall, even used my own powers to help bringing him down. We all contributed. Me, Vida, Xander, Chip and...

I sigh.

 _And Nick._

Pain rips through my heart at the mere thought of his name. Nick, our gallant leader and shining red ranger, the lonely wolf I've been secretly crushing on since... I don't want to use phrase 'from the moment we first met', it's too cliché, but it goes something like that... is leaving. While the rest of us parties inside Rock Porium, he is across the street securing baggage to the back of his motorcycle. I watch him through the front window of the store.

I sigh again, this time the sigh is deep and distressed.

The scene is so similar to when Vida, Xander, Chip and I first met him that it is ridiculous. I remember peering shyly at him from my safe spot behind Xander as Xander explained to him the danger of entering the forest, thinking he was just the kind of man my mother had warned Vida and me about. The kind of man who sweeps you of your feet with his bad boy loner attitude and good looks, but can never stick to a relationship even if you glued him to it. I remember the heat in Nick's eyes when he called us out as cowards and how I thought he must be very brave and really stupid. For only the really brave ones dared to enter the forest, and only the fools dared to call Vida a coward.

Maybe it was his bravery, or the fire inside him, that caught my attention. Maybe both. Whatever it was; after that first encounter, he has never been far off in my mind. The very thought of him sends tingles throughout my whole body and the better I got to know him, the worse the tingles became.

I feel them now too, but they are accompanied by a big black hole of sorrow in my gut. I feel almost sick. I don't want him to go. Not now, not ever. Every inch of me wants to run to him and tell him not to go, but I remain where I am.

I see him take a walk around his bike to kneel on the other side so I can't see him from where I'm standing. All of a sudden, I am reminded of another encounter with him and I realize I have actually asked him to stay once before. Well, maybe 'asked' is the wrong word to use. 'Suggested' might be a more accurate description of it. I wasn't as brave back then as I am now. I no longer stutter when I'm in his company, nor ever actually. Being a ranger has really boosted my confidence.

I bit my lip and before I am aware of what I'm doing, I'm out through the door, the door bell barely heard over the deafening noise from the celebrating crowd behind me. Maybe I cannot make him stay, but there is something else I need to now.

Sunlight hits me as soon as I step out on the street and blinds me for a brief moment. I close my eyes on reflex and I'm back to day when the old man - later known as the sorceress Udonna - begged the citizens of Briarwood for help. Nick was in a white T-shirt then, the black leather jacket tossed over the bike. Now, when I open my eyes again after they've adjusted to the sunlight, the colors are inverted. Now the T-shirt is black and the leather jacket white. Streaks of red and blue are embedded on the left side of his chest, as well as on his bicep. As I draw nearer I can't help but to think how similar in shade the blue is to my ranger suit.

With my hands shoved down deeply into the pocket of my jeans, I come to a halt in front of the bike.

"You're leaving!"

The words blurt out of my mouth more genuinely disappointed than I intended them to be and before I can stop them. This wasn't the opening I set out for - if I had set out for one. My head is blank and numb of fear so I am left to improvisation.

Nick looks up at me and for a moment I think my heart will burst. _Why did he have to be so handsome today?_ I swallow nervously, my confidence suddenly gone. I feel stripped down naked to my inner most secret feelings. I feel vulnerable. Maybe this was a stupid idea after all.

"Yeah," Nick says and straightens to face me. "I'm gonna go and see my adoptive parents. There's a lot tell them."

He chuckles on the last part. 'A lot' in this case is a huge understatement. If I hadn't been so taken by the moment I would probably had joined in on his chuckles. Where would one begin telling one's adoptive parents that you've unexpectedly found your birth parents after twenty years not knowing the first thing about them?

 _Probably not by telling them your birth parents belong the magical world and that you yourself are the Light, who just happens to be the only one who can save the world from the forces of evil emerging from the underworld, and that you have spent a major part of the past year fighting the evil's spawns with your life on the line._

I sigh, for the millionth time today, and work up the courage to say the words I set out for to say. It's now or never.

"So you're not coming back?"

Once the words are out, my heart stops beating. My mouth goes dry and I dare not breathing. My eyes never leaves his face as I wait for his reply, in words or in action. I want to capture his face as it is now, before he crushes my heart.

Nick looks at me with a prying look and a secretive grin.

"I didn't say that."

Against my will my hope rises faster than my titan transformation.

"You are coming back?" I frown in confusion.

Nick, avoiding to meet my gaze, starts plucking with his belongings. His body language has suddenly changed. Now he is just as uncomfortable as I am, using large gestures as he starts speaking.

"Uhm... what I'm saying is that I'd like to come back if there is something or _someone_ to come back to."

"Oh!" So maybe I'm about to die of nervousness, but I didn't miss the emphasis on the word 'someone'. I realize the reason he is trembling is because now that we no longer have the ranger-thing holding our little group together, he needs some sort reassurance that we still want him to be a part of it. I remembered him once telling me he usually never stuck around long enough to make friends. Now that he is forced to leave us to take care of family business, he wants to know if the bonds he has made to us will still be there when he comes back.

I smile towards him somewhat shyly and motherly at the same time.

"Well, there is," I say as I try to recollect all the people he has gotten to know here. "There is Xander, Vida, Chip, Toby, Phineas, Leelee..."

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when I use Leelee as a reason for Nick to stay and it's not working very well either. While I'm ranting, Nick has started to pluck with his things again, not hearing a word I say.

 _This is not enough_ , I panic. _It's not enough!_

Then I realize what it is I have to do. In less than a millisecond, my heart kicks into overdrive. Beating so fast and so hard I fear it will break a rib or two on me on its way out through my chest.

"And then... uhm..." My mouth is dry as a desert. This is it, I'm going to pour my heart out for him. "Me." That one little word leaves me breathless so I have to build up the courage again to say the whole sentence. "Uhm, I want you to come back for me."

The moment that follows is the longest and most torturing I've ever experienced. It's like I'm dangling over a cliff on a very thin thread, just waiting for it to break. Nick doesn't say anything. He stares at me with I gaze I cannot read. It doesn't reveal anything of his thoughts or feelings. Then the moment is over. Nick starts to pluck with his things again. For a brief second I fear he will leave me here without a word, just hop up on his bike and drive away, leaving me in the dust with a broken heart, but then he pulls out something from his bags and holds it out for me. I frown in confusion for it is something I am very familiar with. It's his baby blanket.

"Will you hold on to this?" he asks. His eyes glowing with hope and something warm as he looks deep into my eyes.

My heart flutters and skips a beat when I realize what he is trying to tell me. The baby blanket he has hold onto for so long as the only tangible memory of his birth parents, it's loaded with everything he cannot find the words to say. That someone he mentioned, that someone he'd come back for, is me. Not Xander, not Vida, not Chip, but me. Madison Rocca, blue mystic ranger. His ranger.

 _He loves me._

"Sure," is all I manage to say as I relieve him of the blanket with a smile. The words have failed me and I hope the loving look I give him is all the reassurance he needs. That it will tell him that I will wait for him no matter how long it takes. Weeks, months, even years. That I'm his forever.

Nick seems to understand what I am trying to tell him for he lights up in the most beautiful smile and he nods to me the same reassurance I give him before he straddles the bike and starts up the engine. With one last look at me, he slips on the helmet and then he is off. I clutch the blanket tightly to my chest as I watch him disappear down the street.

When he is gone I let out the breath I didn't know I held in and smile to myself. I clutch the blanket even tighter to my chest. It is the tangible evidence of the promise he has given me to come back. I promise I know he won't break.

"He'll be back," I whisper to myself and grin.

Then my grin fades as reality catches up with me and I realize what I have done. I opened up my heart to a guy for the first time in my life! It is so not like me - the shy, innocent little wall flower Madison. And crazier still, I opened up my heart to a hot guy like Nick and he returns my feeling. I guess I sort of have a boyfriend now.

With the blanket firmly clutched in my hands, I stumble back the store.

 _I have to tell Vida!_

 ** _The End_**

* * *

I'm afraid that this is the final chapter of this fanfic. Over the last week I have done a lot of thinking and I have decided not to continue writing on this one, at least not anytime soon. Madison/Nick fans shall not be sorry though. I'm closing this one in favor for another idea that I have where we will explore their relationship a little bit further. So stay tuned and drive safe!


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